Modular building unit



July 15, 1969 v c. FREY MODULAR BUILDING UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet "2 Filed May 1. 1967 INVENTOR. CHE/fif/A/V FKEV W WM ATTOZA/EVS U.S. Cl. 52-236 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A prefabricated modular building component for square building units having the shape of a right parallelepiped in which the long sides are twice the length of the short sides and the component includes as its only structural elements rectangular floor and ceiling panels and a wall panel which is rigidly connected to the floor and ceiling panels along one-half of the length of the long sides of the fioor and ceiling panels. The modular components fit together with each other to form building units of indeterminate horizontal length, and the components are mounted in spaced apart positions on vertical columns with two components forming three floor levels of the building. The long sides may be other than twice the length of the short sides for rectangular building units.

Summary of invention Many advances have been made in recent years in the design of prefabricated building components such as wall panels and the like which reduce on-site construction time in the building of high rise buildings and the like. While these prefabricated components have offered good theoretical advantages, they have suffered either of two disadvantages which have seriously limited their use. On the one hand, some of these components involve such complete prefabrication that the components are too difficult to transport or so specialized that they cannot be manufactured in sufi'lcient quantity to obtain mass production economy. On the other hand, some of the components involve such a limited amount of prefabrication that their expense is not justified by savings in one-site construction time.

In accordance with this invention, I have provided a prefabricated modular building component which contains prefabricated floor, ceiling, and wall panels rigidly connected together in one structural unit. These panels are connected in a particular configuration which permits multiple modular components to be mounted together in horizontal and vertical arrays. The component has rectangular floor and ceiling panels with long and short sides with the long sides twice as long as the short sides. The modular units have a single structural Wall panel connecting the floor and ceiling panels. The wall panel is a vertical structural support means which may be a continuous closed structure covering one-half of the long sides of the other panels or it may be an open framework which provides access openings through it. Where the building units are to have a rectangular shape instead of a square shape the modular units are divided into two groups with different long and short side dimensions and the width of the wall panels on the modules of each group is equal to the length of the long sides of the modules of that group minus the length of the short sides of the modules of the other group.

The modular units are assembled together to form a square array of four units with a square opening in the center of the array with the four wall panels positioned along the sides of the central square opening, and a rectangular array of four units has a rectangular core. Where the modular building units are used in high rise buildings, the vertical structural columns of the building and the service facilities for various floor levels of the building may extend through the central opening in the square array, and two adjacent square arrays of the modular units may be mounted at two vertical positions on a column which are spaced apart by a floor level of the building so that the ceiling panel of a lower modular unit also forms a floor panel for a second floor level while the floor panel of the upper modular unit defines the ceiling of the second floor level.

Since the floor and ceiling panels are connected only by the one wall panel, the array of four modular units is open at its periphery so that two arrays may be mounted adjacent to each other side by side and together provide a communicated building space which is twice the Width of the module. Since each array of four modules is square, an indefinite number of the square arrays of modules may be mounted side by side in both horizontal directions to make up a building of any desired plan area. Additionally, where the modular units are used in the building of a high rise structure, the load supporting columns for the modular units pass through the open square area in the middle of the array of four units, and an indefinite number of the units may be attached to the column to provide a building of any desired height. Since the modular units in such a vertical array are separately attached to the supporting column, the individual modular units do not carry the weight of units above them so that modular units used at the base of a high rise building may be identical to modular units used at the top of the building.

The modular units are preferably made in dimensions such as 8 by 16 feet, and increasing by four inch increments up to 10 by 20 feet, or 12 by 24 feet which permit their shipment by conventional vehicles. Where the modular units are made with 10 by 20 foot'floor panels, each square array of four modular units is 30 feet square with a 10 feet square opening in the center along which the vertical wall panels extend. Two of the square arrays may be mounted side by side and provide an occupiable space at each end of the building which is 10 to 30 feet and may be subdivided in any desired manner, and the adjacent areas of the two square arrays contains an occupiable space of 20 by 30 feet which may be subdivided in any desired manner.

The individual rectangular modular units are provided with only the one structural wall panel so that the units may be positioned adjacent to each other and provide communicating occupiable spaces which extend from one modular unit into another. When a group of the modular units is assembled together into a building, the edges of the modular units which define the periphery of the building may be provided with any convenient closure structure for instance in the manner in which curtain walls are now provided on high rise buildings.

The modular units of this invention may be constructed of a wide variety of materials such as wood, concrete, steel, metals, plastics, etc., and conventional techniques such as prestressing, poststressing, skinstressing, stamping, extrusion, and the like may also be employed. Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the attached drawing in which:

Drawings FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a prefabricated modular unit constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in end elevation of the modular unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the modular unit of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a floor plan of a building made from 16 of the modular units of FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view through four prefabricated panels which may be used to form a tower supporting the modules of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the structure of FIG. 5 taken along the plane indicated at 66 in FIG. 5',

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the structure of FIGS. 5 and 6, and;

FIG. 8 is a vertical schematic view of a six story building constructed of the modules of FIGS. 1 and 5.

Detail description Referring now in detail to the drawings, the modular unit shown in FIGS. l-3 comprises a pair of vertical beams 10 which are welded to a pair of upper beams 12 and a pair of lower beams 14. The beams 14 are connected to a floor panel 16 and are interconnected by additional beams 18. The beams 12 are connected to a ceiling panel 20, and additional beams 22 are connected to the beams 12 and the ceiling panel. In this way, the beams 10 define a wall panel and may be covered with paneling material if desired, and the wall panel rigidly connects the floor and ceiling panel 16 and supporting the ceiling panel 20 in cantilevered position over the floor panel 16. The floor panels and ceiling panels have a rectangular shape with short sides having a length L and long sides having a length 2L, and the wall panel formed by the beams 10 has a length L and is positioned at one end of the long sides of the floor and ceiling panels. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wall panel formed of the beams 10 occupies a full onehalf of the length of the long side of the floor panel, but where desired, the modular unit may be built with a wall panel having a width somewhat less than one-half of the length of the long side of the floor panels where for instance it may be desirable to make the wall panel shorter than one-half of the length of the long sides of the floor panel by a distance equal to the thickness of the wall panel to facilitate nesting of the Wall panels of adjacent modular units.

With reference to FIG. 4, four of the modular units 24, 26, 28 and 30 are arranged together in a square configuration which has a square opening 32 at its center. Each of the modular units 24-30 is mounted in such a position that its wall panel extends along the edge of the center square opening 32. Four additional modular units 34 are arranged in a second square configuration adjacent to the first, and modular units 36 and 38 form two additional square configurations adjacent to the first two. The modular units 34, 36 and 38 are positioned in actual engagement with the edges of the modular units 2430 to provide building spaces extending continuously from one module to the next with no structural separation. Additionally, the free edges of floor and ceiling panels of adjacent modules are connected together by connectors 42, and preferably the panels of adjacent modules may be jointly poststressed so that the assembled modules in the ultimate building have strengths for supporting live loads which greatly exceed the dead load strength of the individual modules as fabricated. As illustrated schematically in FIG. 4, structural elements 44 may be provided in the square openings in the centers of each of the square arrays of modular units to provide structural support for the Wall panels of the individual modular units where for instance it may be desirable to mount the modular units in a vertical array for a multi-story building.

Thus, with reference to FIGS. 5-7, the structural support employed in the square opening of a four module array may take the form of four reinforced. concrete panels 46, 48, and 52 arranged in a square configuration. The panels may be connected to each other by any suitable means, and they are preferably provided with male and female dove tail portions 54 and 56 on their ends by which multiple groups of the structures of FIG. 7 may be stacked one upon the other as illustrated in FIG. 8. Where a tower is formed of the components of FIG. 7 in this way,

.4 any suitable connecting means may be provided between the components for maintaining structural rigidity of the tower as for instance tension cables 58. Where the structural units of FIG. 7 are employed to form a tower on which the modular units of FIG. 1 are mounted, a first unit 60 similar to that shown in FIG. 7 may be mounted on a foundation and then additional units 62, 64, 66, 68 and 70, similar to the unit 60 may be mounted on top of the unit 60. Four of the modular units of FIG. I, mounted in one of the square configurations of FIG. 4, are then attached to each of the column units 62, 66 and 70 by any suitable means such as bolts 69 to provide a six story building as illustrated in FIG. 8, and enclosing exterior walls 71 are attached to the floor panels by any conventional technique as mentioned above to enclose the occupiable' areas between adjacent floor panels.

Of course, the building modular units of FIGS. 1-3 may be mounted on other conveniently fabricated towers such as reinforced concrete towers formed with slipform techniques, and preferably the modular units of FIGS. l-3 have service facilities such as plumbing and Wiring built into the floor, wall and ceiling panels for directing connection by standard fittings to service facilities in additional modules and in the towers on which the modules may be supported.

While one specific embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail herein, it is obvious that many modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A modular building component comprising:

(A) a first rectangular floor panel having a pair of short sides and a pair of long sides with the length of the long sides being substantially twice the length of the short sides;

(B) a second rectangular floor panel having short sides and long sides substantially equal in length to the short sides and long sides of said first floor panel with said first and second floor panels positioned with respect to each other as the opposite faces of a rectangular parallelepiped, and;

(C) vertical structural support means perpendicular to said first and second floor panels and having a width substantially equal to the length of said short sides of said floor panels with said vertical structural support means extending between and rigidly connected to one of the long sides of each of said floor panels adjacent to one of said short sides thereof and with said vertical structural support means forming the sole structural connection between said floor panels with the volume of space between said floor panels laterally unenclosed in five areas equal to the area of said vertical structural support means.

2. A modular building formed of a plurality of modular building components with each component comprising:

(A) a first rectangular floor panel having a pair of short sides and a pair of long sides;

(B) a second rectangular floor panel having short sides and long sides substantially equal in length to the short sides and long sides of said first floor panel with said floor panels positioned with respect to each other as the opposite faces of a right parallelepiped, and;

(C) vertical structural support means perpendicular to said floor panels and extending between and rigidly connected to one of the long sides of each of said floor panels adjacent to one of said short sides thereof and with said vertical structural support means forming the sole structural conection between said floor panels said plurality of modular components being divided into two groups of modules with all of the modules in each group having equal long and short sides and with the vertical structural support means in the modules of each group having a width equal to the length of the long sides of the modules of that group minus the length of the short sides of the modules of the other group.

3. The building of claim 2 in which the long sides of the modules in said two groups have different lengths.

4. The method of erecting a multi-story building which comprises:

(A) erecting at least one substantially vertical column with said column having a plurality of floor levels above the ground;

(B) prefabricating a plurality of building components with each of said components having a pair of floor slabs and vertical structural support means connected in cantilever relation to said floor slabs and supporting said floor slabs cantilevered from said support means parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other by the distance between adjacent ones of said floor levels of said column;

(C) attaching a first one of said components to said column with the floor slabs of said component located at a first pair of adjacent floor levels of said column;

(D) attaching a second one of said components to said column with the fioor slabs of said second component located at a second pair of adjacent floor levels of said column spaced away from said first pair of floor levels by the distance between said floor levels;

(E) mounting an enclosing wall on said building extending along at least one edge of said first component and extending vertically between said first and second components, and;

(F) whereby each of said floor slabs forms a floor and a ceiling with an occupiable floor level located between said first and second components.

5. A building comprising:

(A) a substantially vertical tower mounted on the ground and having a plurality of floor levels thereof;

(B) a pair of substantially identical building components with each of said components comprising:

( 1) vertical structural support means;

(2) a lower floor panel mounted on said vertical structural support means in cantilever relation thereto; and

(3) an upper floor panel mounted on said vertical structural support means in cantilever relation thereto positioned above said lower floor panel by a distance equal to the distance between the adjacent fioor levels of said tower; and

(C) means mounting said building components on said tower at different locations on said tower.

6. The building of claim 5 characterized further in that one of said building components is mounted on said tower one floor level above the other components whereby said pair of components provide four adjacent floor structures of said building.

7. A building comprising:

-(A) a substantially vertical tower mounted on the ground and having a plurality of floor levels thereof;

'(B) a plurality of building components with each of said components comprising:

(1 vertical structural support means;

(2) a lower floor panel mounted on said vertical structural support means extending laterally therefrom in cantilever relation thereto; and,

(3) an upper floor panel mounted on said verterical structural support means extending laterally therefrom in cantilever relation thereto and positioned above said lower floor panel by a distance equal to the distance between the adjacent floor levels of said tower;

(C) means mounting a first group of said building components on said tower with said vertical structural support means of said components adjacent to said tower and with said lower floor panels of said components adjacent to each other whereby said first group of components provide upper and lower floor structures which extend around said tower at two adjacent fioor levels of said tower; and,

(D) means mounting a second group of said building components on said tower with said vertical structural support means thereof adjacent to said tower and with said lower floor panels of said second group of components adjacent to each other and located one floor level above the upper floor panels of said first group of building components.

8. The building of claim 7 characterized further by the inclusion of wall means mounted on at least some of said floor panels at the edges remote from said tower with said wall means extending vertically from the lower floor panels of said first group of components to the upper floor panels of said second group of components.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,170,936 2/1916 Royse 52-606 X 3,388,512 6/1968 Newman 52-236 X 915,421 3/1909 Eisen 52-236 1,156,693 10/1915 Koger 52-79 2,287,229 6/ 1942 Carpenter 52-79 2,691,291 10/1954 Henderson 52-79 FOREIGN PATENTS 665 9/ 1909 Great Britain.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner S. D. BURKE, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 52-79, 439, 604, 606, 609, 745 

